Strip club Bliss closes after troubled 3-year run

Gay strip club and drag queen birthday hotspot Bliss Atlanta abruptly closed its doors, issuing its last call after a troubled three-year run of offering up sexy manparts twirling on polls.

The venue, a longtime strip club under various names, traded chicks for dicks in 2011. On Wednesday, Bliss confirmed speculation among fans that it had closed, effective May 17. One of its Facebook pages displayed a "Closed" banner.

The bar, then known as 24K Club, openly flouted city regs requiring that dancers be permitted. Theirs weren’t, the club was cited, its liquor license renewed and the lap dances continued. Eventually, the city hauled the bar before its License Review Board and the bar complained in the lawsuit that it was targeted over anti-gay bias. Trouble with that argument: At the time of the raid, the bar offered female strippers and a straight male crowd.

In July 2013, the city settled a lawsuit Bliss filed. It didn't go well for the bar, which agreed to pay $75,000 in fines and $15,000 to pick up the city's legal fees.

Even though the settlement was favorable to the city, gay City Council member Alex Wan objected. He dished against it in September 2013, a few months after his failed attempt to push sex businesses and strip clubs, including Bliss, off Cheshire Bridge Road.

Bliss also had to fend off blowback from stripper Corey John Capels, who was fired after he ranted about how he "hates all faggots." You know, the same ones that generously tipped him.

Management with Bliss could not be immediately be reached for comment Tuesday. The voice mail message for the club still says Bliss is open Tuesday through Sunday.

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